Last week, a house on Staten Island burned to the ground, killing the entire Jones family—four children and a mother. Most had their throats cut. Police blamed C.J., the allegedly murderous 14 year-old son. Now, they've cleared him. Whoops?

Shortly after the bodies had been pulled from the smoldering remains of the home, police told the press that C.J. Romoy had slit the throats of his 7 and 10 year-old sisters, then slit his own throat before burning down the apartments, killing all the kids and their mother. Immediately, reporters began scouring for details of C.J.'s hidden dark side. "Neighbor Raquel Fagone said she saw the teenager lighting scraps of paper in front of the building a few months ago," for example. The New York Times even ran a long investigative piece yesterday about C.J.'s "Life of Rage," detailing how he was picked on in school and had disciplinary problems.

Well. Scratch that. Today, police say that the mother, Leisa Jones, killed her kids and set the fire herself—and that she even left an apology note behind. An autopsy revealed that C.J. and his sisters did not suffer smoke inhalation, meaning that they were dead before the fire was set.